Method and system for marketing and/or shopping

Abstract

A method of marketing is presented in which a customers in stores use wireless bar code reading terminals to read bar codes related to products in the stores and retrieve information related to the scanned products. A database of customer accounts is maintained and the database includes information related to various coupons that have been issued to the customers. A customer can access their account database via a terminal and view information which can assist them in making shopping decisions, including information indicating which coupons the customer has and which are presently redeemable. Additional features related to coupons and other shopping promotions are also disclosed.

1 - 40 . (canceled)  
     
     
         41 . A method of marketing wherein a plurality of customers in a plurality of stores use wireless bar code reading terminals to read bar codes related to products in the stores, the method comprising the steps of: 
 maintaining at least one database of customer accounts having information related to coupons issued to said customers, said information including for each said customer information related to issued present coupons which are available for redeeming during a current shopping trip and issued future coupons not presently redeemable but which would be redeemable at a future shopping trip by the customer; and    displaying on the customer's terminal an indication of the status of the customer's account including the status of the present customer coupons and future customer coupons.    
     
     
         42 . The method according to  claim 41 , wherein the customer account further has information relating to customer scanning points.  
     
     
         43 - 108 . (canceled)  
     
     
         109 . The method of  claim 41 , further comprising the steps of: 
 maintaining at least one database relating to shopping behavior for a plurality of customers; and    providing a product coupon to a customer in response to the reading of a bar code by the customer with one of the wireless bar code reading terminals by dynamically changing a characteristic of the product coupon.    
     
     
         110 . The method of  claim 109 , wherein the characteristic is changed based upon whether or not the customer is in the customer database.  
     
     
         111 . The method of  claim 109 , wherein the characteristic is an amount of the product coupon.  
     
     
         112 . The method of  claim 111 , wherein the amount of the coupon is based upon the type of store.  
     
     
         113 . The method according to  claim 111 , wherein the amount of the coupon is based upon at least one of the time of day, the day of the week, and the month of the year.  
     
     
         114 . The method according to  claim 111 , wherein the amount of the coupon is based upon the type of terminal.  
     
     
         115 . The method according to  claim 111 , wherein the amount of the coupon is based upon the terminal IP address.  
     
     
         116 . The method according to  claim 111 , wherein the amount of the coupon is based upon a UPC bar code being read.  
     
     
         117 . The method of  claim 41 , further comprising the steps of: 
 maintaining at least one database relating to the products in the stores;    assigning a prize to at least one product in the database;    and providing the prize to a customer in response to at least the reading of a bar code by the customer associated with the at least one product.    
     
     
         118 . The system according to  claim 117 , wherein the prize is a coupon.  
     
     
         119 . The system according to  claim 117 , wherein the prize is scanning points added to an account of the customer.  
     
     
         120 . The method of  claim 109 , wherein the step of providing includes providing a future customer coupon to the customer redeemable at a next shopping trip.  
     
     
         121 . The method of  claim 42 , further comprising the step of adding scanning points to the customer scanning points information in the customer account in response to at least the reading of a bar code by the customer with one of the wireless bar code reading terminals  
     
     
         122 . The method according to  claim 121 , wherein the scanning points are added in response to reading of a bar code and the purchase of the item represented by the bar code.  
     
     
         123 . The method according to  claim 121 , further comprising the step of cashing out the customer's scanning point account.  
     
     
         124 . The method according to  claim 123 , wherein the step of cashing out the scanning point account comprises printing a voucher.